Article: Dr. Robert Hogan on personality and leadership

Dr. Robert Hogan on personality and leadership

Addressing the delegates at TechHR Singapore 2019, Dr. Robert Hogan, the Founder and President -- Hogan Assessments, talked about the interlinking of personality, leadership, career success, and organizational effectiveness.

From the development of the socio-analytic theory to establishing the link between personality and organizational effectiveness, Dr. Robert Hogan, the Founder, and President -- Hogan Assessments, revolutionized the way performance measurement was looked at. He has been the most vocal psychologist to champion the cause of how personality is instrumental in performance and organizational effectiveness.

Addressing the delegates at TechHR Singapore 2019, Dr. Robert Hogan talked about the interlinking of personality, leadership, career success, and organizational effectiveness.

Dr. Hogan said, “The quality of peoples’ lives depends on their careers. The quality of peoples’ careers depends on their organizations. The fate of their organizations depends on their leadership. Leadership depends on personality. Personality, leadership, career success, and organizational effectiveness are linked.”

In his address, he shed light on understanding the links between personality, careers of individuals, and the fate of organizations. He shared that personalities should be defined from two perspectives: ‘Yours and Ours.’ There’s you that you know and the you that we know. The you that you know is hardly worth anything. It’s the you that we know that matters.

Sharing more the about personality he shared the importance of competition in life and how competition within and between groups drove human evolution.

He said, “What is good for the group is always good for the individual; what is good for the individual may not be good for the group.”

Defining personality

Dr. Hogan suggests that some of the fundamental problems in life are our concern about getting along and getting ahead and also developing relationships and developing careers.

“These problems exist in a state of tension. We should resolve these problems during social interaction especially at work,” he added.

Talking about how personality factors influence organizational effectiveness in a variety of areas, he shared that personality is about individual differences in the ability to get along and get ahead.

He concluded by saying, “Many people who seem to be high potentials are good politicians but not good leaders/managers. Conversely, many good leaders/managers are not good politicians. Properly validated assessments are the best way to find and promote good leaders/managers.”